Experienced ICE agents stationed in Minneapolis are privately calling for an end to the operation after the fatal shooting of nurse Alex Pretti. They say the mission is lost and morale has collapsed following two deadly encounters involving federal officers in the city.
Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital, was shot multiple times in the back during a confrontation with federal agents last Saturday.
This information comes from video reviewed by journalists and accounts from agents speaking anonymously to reporter Ken Klippenstein. The shooting happened just two weeks after ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, an unarmed 37-year-old mother, in a separate incident that has already caused internal turmoil within the Department of Homeland Security.
“This is a no-win situation for agents on the ground or immigration enforcement overall,” one Border Patrol agent wrote in a private chat obtained by Klippenstein and published on his Substack. “I think it’s time to pull out of Minnesota; that battle is lost.”
Klippenstein reported speaking with six ICE and Border Patrol agents who expressed anger not only towards leadership in Washington but also towards colleagues involved in Pretti’s killing. Several agents disputed official accounts that tried to justify the shooting, stating the available video evidence did not support claims that Pretti posed a lethal threat.
One Border Patrol agent in the same private chat warned that Pretti “was shot 8 to 9 times while unarmed,” criticizing what he called a rushed damage-control narrative that “does not fit the evidence on video.” Another agent wrote, “We can’t always support what happens just because it’s one of us.”
Agents told Klippenstein that confidence within the ranks has declined since Good’s killing, with Pretti’s death increasing fear and resentment. According to the report, some officers now worry about their own safety as briefings increasingly focus on potential retaliation against ICE and Border Patrol personnel.
“Lots of people are freaking out,” one officer told Klippenstein, noting agents are becoming paranoid and talking as if Minneapolis has turned into a domestic war zone. Others described the workforce as physically and emotionally drained, pulled away from immigration enforcement into protest policing and street confrontations after demonstrators were called as interfering with federal operations.
Veteran agents also blamed lowered hiring standards for worsening the situation. One senior ICE agent told Klippenstein, “The brand new agents are idiots,” referring to what he described as relaxed recruitment criteria. A newer recruit shared that view, saying some colleagues were “pretty sketchy,” and recounted stakeouts where agents passed around a flask and displayed behavior he did not expect from federal law enforcement officers.
The strain has reportedly impacted interagency cooperation. One officer warned that the FBI is now hesitant to participate in Minneapolis task forces, while Enforcement and Removal Operations teams are getting stretched thin managing crowd control instead of immigration cases.
Behind the scenes, agents said senior managers have retreated into repeated legal meetings with DHS attorneys to handle fallout from the two killings. Those on the ground see this as a leadership vacuum.
The internal backlash has collided with a political crisis at the top of DHS. President Donald Trump demoted Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s chosen “commander at large,” after receiving criticism from within the administration regarding the visibility of Bovino’s masked tactical units during enforcement actions.
Trump later sent immigration czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis to take over on-the-ground coordination, with Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott also sent to help. The Daily Beast reported that senior White House officials, including Stephen Miller and Susie Wiles, have blamed Noem and her advisers for strategic mistakes that placed federal agents at the center of public outrage.
Public opinion has shifted as well. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monday found that only 39 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, with a majority saying ICE has gone too far in its actions.
For agents in Minneapolis, those numbers provide little comfort. One senior ICE officer bluntly summed up his reaction to Pretti’s killing: “F—k this.”
